1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparel worn for personal protection, namely hard hats.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hard hats are a mandatory safety item used in or around electrical power plants, chemical plants, construction sites, warehouses, and other industrial sites. The requirements are mandated through safety programs due to overhead hazards associated in these types of industries. Hard hats are intended to be a type of safety equipment that will protect the wearer from overhead hazards as well as from bumping one's head in areas where there are low clearances. However there are cases when the hard hat can be considered a hazard in itself. For instance, in most industrial work places where overhead work is being performed, workers are typically wearing a hard hat. If a worker leans over or bumps their head the hard hat most likely will fall off. This is fine except for where the hard hat can becomes a falling object and a hazard to personnel or vital plant equipment below.
In other cases, such as at nuclear power plants, workers often will work from a bridge crane that straddles the reactor vessel cavity that is filled with water. If the hard hat falls off the worker, it may land in the pool of water. If the hard hat cannot be retrieved before it sinks the retrieval process may be time consuming and very costly. Typically, a nuclear power plant will lose approximately $100,000 per hour of down time during a refueling or maintenance outage. Depending on where the hat finally came to rest, it could take up to several hours to retrieve, and consequently could delay the plant from coming back online.
A chin strap used with a hard hat is one method to keep the hard hat on a wearer's head. However this method can be uncomfortable and sometimes a bit cumbersome. Another issue is that the chin strap is in direct contact with exposed skin. When working in contaminated environments, items that are in direct contact with exposed skin should be laundered prior to donning. However, hard hats, even with chin straps, are not typically laundered. Therefore, if the hard hat is used in a harsh or contaminated environment, it can spread to the wearer's exposed skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 701,639 (1902, Stamm) discloses a hat guard device that prevents a straw hat from blowing away. One end of the retainer is hooked through the hat, and the other end is hooked into the lapel button hole. This system may have been acceptable for straw hats. However, one cannot insert a hook into a hard hat because the hard hat material is too hard by its very nature. Also, the weight of the hard hat would pull through a lapel button hole. Furthermore, industrial workers are unlikely to wear formal jackets having lapel button holes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,236 (1991, Pritchett) discloses a hat retaining device that attaches at one end to a hat and at the other end around the wearer's neck. This would be unsuitable for use with a hard hat because of the danger of attaching a loop around the wearer's neck when working in an industrial environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,887 (2000, Yagi) discloses a hat and retaining device having a permanent stopper affixed to the crown of the hat on one end and a clip on the other. This would also be unsuitable for use with a hard hat because it would require modifying standard safety equipment made to a particular standard. Adding devices to the crown of a hard hat may make it unsafe in an accident. None of the above references employ a feature that can easily release the hat from the wearer without completely removing the retaining device.
What is needed, therefore, is a device that prevents a hard hat from falling to a place where it cannot be easily retrieved. What is also needed is a hard hat retaining device that does not require modifying a piece of safety equipment. What is needed is also device that prevents contamination of the wearer by not coming into direct contact with a wearer's skin. What is further needed is a hard hat device that can be easily released when the hard hat is not being used.